Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-12-16

must be taken whether a conven-
ton shall meet in 1889 to reyise the
Constitution, and in case such con
vention shall be called, financial
provisions will have to be made for
its expenses.
The numberof oftax.receWable cOu-
pons outstanding 81 the end Of the
last fiscal year, namely, the 3Oth of
September, 1887, was SIPS, S,G0G.3O,
The number of tax-receiyable .cou-
pons which found their way into
the Treasury on judgment for taxes
during the last fiscal year was $751;
G20,j0. In this connection your
attention is called to the extract
from the report Of the Second Au-
ditor for the fiscal year ending
September 80, 1857, in reference to
the public debt, in a table marked
No. 3, appended to the message.
From the facts and figures given
! draw these conclusions:
First. Both political parties
agree that the act approved the
1lth of February, 1882, shall be
maintained. One of these parties
has held no convention recently,
but the other, and now governing
party of the State, in the platform
erected at Roanoke as late as the
4th of August, 1887, and upon
which their members Of the Gener-
al Assembly stood aud received
their certificate Of election, stated
through their representatives there
assembled that it approved the
action Of the legislative committee
at the debt conference, and pledg-
ed over again its support to the act
of1SS2.
Second. That the number Of
coupons coming into the Treasury
in proportion to the cash revenue,
upon which the State depends to
carry on its government, is not as
yet crippling her schools, or elee.
mosynary or educational instltu-
TONS. or blocking the wheels Of her
State government
Third. That the Commonwealth
can still carry ont in good faith the
act Of 1882, because the obliga-
tions incurred are within her ability
to meet, without default of interest
and without increasing the taxes
of her citizens.
DEBT LEGISLATION.
had the honor to recommend,
and the General Assembly passed
at the special session of 1887, an
act entitled "An act to provide
for the recovery by motion of taxes
and certain debts due the Common
wealth for the payment Of which
papers purporting to he genuine
coupons of the Commonwealth
have been rendered." under which
it was believed that the State
would be enabled to proceed against
delinquent taxpayers who had
rendered coupons in payment OF
taxes, but had not paid their taxes
in coupons or money. 1t was be-
lieved the State in this way could
lawfully compel the taxpayer to
either prove his coupons to he
genuine and deliver them to her
officers, or pay in money. Many
taxpayers had rendered coupons
in payment. Of their taxes, and then
Immediately disposed of the cou-
pOns to other taxpayers, whereby
the State neither received money
nor coupons. In other instances
the tax payers whose property had
been levied upon after tender OF
coupons sued the Treasurer and
recovered the money paid without
delivering the coupons, and the
State received nothing for the
taxes.
Immediately after the adJOurn-
ment of the General Assembly Mr..
J. p. Cooper and other English
citizens procured from the Circuit
Court of the United States for the
Eastern district Of Virginia an in
junction restraining the Auditor of
Public accounts, the Attorney
General, and all the attorneys for
the Commonwealth and county
treasurers in the State from doing
any act to put the law in force.
With the view OF testing the
legality of such proceedings on the
part of the Federal Judge, the
Attorney General and the attorneys
for the Commonwealth for several
counties nevertheless in stituted
the suits required and proceeded
to obtain judgments against the
delinquent taxpayers.
For this the Attorney~General
and attorneys for the CommOn-
wealth for Fauquier and Loudoun
counties were found guilty OF
contempt by the Circuit Court OF
the United States, and each were
fined aud imprisoned until the fines
should be paid and they should
have dismissed all pending suits
and enter Che judgments which
had been paid satisfied. The Off
GERS positively refused to 'bbey the
order and were Imprisoneil.'
The State at onee employed
counsel and obtained 'writs OF
hdbeas corpus from the Supreme
Court of the United States, under
which the Officers were released